Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath orders arrest of Saharanpur accused

NEW DELHI: Reacting to flack for slack handling of the law and order trouble in Saharanpur, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered strong action against the perpetrators, including the arrest of over 400 named accused in FIRs and the Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad.

UP police is conducting raids in several states for Azad who has gone underground since his appearance at the Bhim Army protest at Jantar Mantar nine days ago. “Azad’s arrest is a priority spelt out by the chief minister. His interrogation is key to get to the bottom of the trouble in Saharanpur and the political forces suspected to be behind it,” a senior UP Police official told ET. The chief minister is also said to be upset over the failure of the local police to assess the rise of Bhim Army in West UP over past one year.

Azad has issued a video message on Facebook two days ago saying he will not surrender till the Bhim Army’s members arrested in Saharanpur get bail.

“I’m being accused of getting Rs 50 lakh into my account, of being an agent of some political leaders and even of being a Naxalite. I wish to say I’m only an agent of my community. All political parties have been shaken by our Jantar Mantar protest and the massive turnout there. There are some compulsions (and that is) why I am not coming out in the open. I would do so after my counterparts behind bars get bail,” Azad said in his Facebook message.

As many as 443 people have been named in 46 cases lodged for trouble over two weeks in Saharanpur – 175 out of them have been arrested. Officials said the CM has directed a Special Investigation Team to arrest all the identified accused soon, file charge-sheets within a month and strongly contest bail applications moved by those behind bars.